From: Hans-Bernhard Broeker <broeker AT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de>
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject: Re: Reverse-compiler
Date: 4 Apr 2000 18:58:31 GMT
Organization: Aachen University of Technology (RWTH)
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Ben Davis <ben AT vjpoole DOT freeserve DOT co DOT uk> wrote:
> Hans-Bernhard Broeker wrote in message
> <8caj5q$ii3$1 AT nets3 DOT rz DOT RWTH-Aachen DOT DE>...
>>> In the future, I will keep backups before I start invoking GCC
>>> manually;
>>
>>I doubt that. Really. Forgetting to keep backups is even more like to
>>happen accidentally than mistyping a gcc command line that badly.

> I don't think I'll forget after that. Excuse me, but I normally rely on
> RHIDE to do my compiling for me. It's not my fault if I get the filenames in
> the wrong order and it starts writing the executable into the source file (I
> presume that's what happened, but I don't know). 

If you use tools that you're not familiar with uncarefully, things
like this happen. Adding tons of tests to catch such user errors to
the tools would make them unnecessarily slow, setting aside the
question if it's even possible to check all cases, safely.

>>Well --- you asked it to. Unix-borne tools like gcc are in the habit
>>of doing exactly what you say, wherever possible. If you 'rm -rf /' on
>>a Unix box as root, that's what it'll do.

> Yes, but GCC is a compiler, not a deltree-equivalent!

Sure, and compilers routinely overwrite their output files, without
ever asking for permission. And that's an equally destructive
operation as 'deltree' or 'rm', in principle.


-- 
Hans-Bernhard Broeker (broeker AT physik DOT rwth-aachen DOT de)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.